Farm Bureau wary of Big Data

SAN ANTONIO (DTN) -- American Farm Bureau members are concerned about the drive in private industry for "Big Data" and what such data aggregation efforts mean for personal information.

Delegates to the group's annual convention adopted new policy this week, stating that such information should remain property of the farmer and warrants protection. Members believe companies have an obligation to fully disclose how they use data, compensate farmers when information is shared with third parties and prevent such information from being subject to federal Freedom of Information Act requests. Also, farmers should have the right to ask for their data back from a private company.

One Farm Bureau state president told DTN that farmers have concerns over various issues, such as how they are measured against others on fertilizer use, for instance. Moreover, Farm Bureau members became more concerned about data collection and sharing after EPA gave personal information about livestock feeding operations to environmental groups last year.